If you go down to the woods today, beware of a big surprise you may just stumble upon The Salty Dog stage marooned in the leafy surrounds of Stradbally Forest. The Salty Dog: the stage that everyone says they have been to, but nobody can find!
The Salty Dog, a sea-beaten shipwreck marooned in the woods at Stradbally Hall (don’t ask how), casts a mischevious one-eye in the direction of anyone interested in a late-night lock-in type party at the Picnic. Loyal to the last, lowering the tone and welcoming the infirm, the insomniacs, those to whom a compass is no use Aye, The Salty Dog is the crude, regretted, smudged tattoo on the cufflinked-shirted arm of the Picnic And ready for an arm wrestle with the leggiest girl in the woods.
Rum-fuelled sea shanties collectives, rasping folksters and big-top emcees, caribbean wastrels, and gravelly maritime pranksters find their home here the infamous Salty Dog Saloon stage emerges out of the fallen masts and rigging when the sun dips below the yard arm.
For those who sleep in hammocks with one eye open, come home my sons and daughters, come to the mothership. With an eclectic line up that includes Seasick Steve, who will be playing his first and last gig on a boat for obvious reasons! Jerry Fish and The Mudbug Club become a nautical Tom Waits, The Mighty Stef considers himself a pirate, Sligo band Tucan and Canadian rocker Joel Plaskett plus much more
And then there is the hedonistic electronic behemoth that is Arcadia who return to Laois combining sculpture, engineering, performance, music and special effects to make you go ‘ooh’.
Somewhere between intergalactic lunacy, transcendental journeys into the gleaming recesses of imagination and a fat pile of seductive scrap, Arcadia have landed and are launching a multi dimensional sensory assault on the shadowy realms of possibility.
Arcadia bring their Afterburner to the Picnic and as the sun settles through the trees, the burner will be fired up breathing its golden flames over everything in their path. The Afterburner’s main tower throws flames 8 metres high and it promises to light up everything around it. There will be performers and acrobats on the 6 ‘tentacles’ and a constant line up of DJs throughout the night Be sure to get down to the 360 Afterburner at this years Electric Picnic and rock it with us and a fine selection of thumpin DJ’s! Including: Skuzzi Port (live) Fernado Tomas: Lektrosoul ; Mcmash Clan: Arvenne; Soul Of Man; Noise Control (live); Wonka ; Noisy Boy & Mc Carasel: Worries Outernational; Mixhell (Live) : The Japanese Popstars: Spitloop..and lots more.
